Yesterday I heard Jack Graham, the pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas, tell a great story in his sermon. It went something like this:

A man and his wife walked into a store. A parrot sitting on a perch greeted them at the door by saying to the man, “Hey you, you’re stupid and your wife is ugly.” Shocked, the couple quickly moved away from the bird. But the bird wouldn’t let the matter go. Even as they moved toward another part of the store it said to the man again, this time a little louder, “Hey you, you’re stupid and your wife is ugly.”

At that point the store manager came out of the back, and the couple immediately reported what the parrot had said. The manager said, “Oh no, is that crazy thing doing that again? I’ve warned him about that.” Then the manager walked over to the bird, grabbed it by its neck, and swatted its backside a few times with his hand. The bird took its punishment and squawked in pain, after which the manager returned it to its perch.

Well, by then the couple was pretty upset about the whole episode and decided to just leave the store. So they headed for the door, which meant that they had to walk past the parrot again. And just as they opened the door to leave, the bird said to the man, “Hey you.” The man’s first instinct was to just keep walking, but curiosity got the better of him. So he slowly turned around and looked straight at the bird. The bird stared back at him for a second and then said, “You know.”

Graham’s point was that critics are everywhere. He’s right. So if you are doing something that you know is right, don’t let them get you down. Just keep on doing it.